Swaptale Revamp
by JozuKurosaki
Summary: When Frisk and Chara in each of their respective timelines are swapped at pivotal moments in their journey, neither is prepared for the fallout from the strange glitch. Now, both timelines are in jeopardy. (A revamp of the Swaptale comic and contains changes. Permission given by ScotchTapeOfficial).
1. Chapter 1

(OOC: Hey Guys! I recently learned some sad news on Tumblr. I've been following ScotchTapeOfficial ( tagged/swaptale) who has been posting a lovely little comic called Swaptale, based off of the idea of Frisk and Chara swapping timelines in the midst of their final battles. I was absorbed in the story but Scotch recently announced that they will most likely not be continuing the comic. I reached out to them and, surprisingly, received a fast response that it was alright to go ahead and do a fanfiction version of the ending!

Of course, my own interpretation of the characters themselves and how they would react came into play, and so I changed up some key elements to make it feel "different" and closer to what I would imagine for it. So, I'm sorry… I couldn't just reuse someone's work entirely so it's changed a lot. This goes sometimes for whole segments of the story or simply for dialogue. I hope that you guys enjoy this!)

The halls were bathed in intense golden light streaming through delicately crafted stained glass windows. The taps of shoes echoed in the space, echoing before fading out, only to be replaced with more determined footsteps. Other than that, the hall was devoid of sound which might have unnerved people passing through.

A glint reflected off of a shiny object clasped firmly in the hand of the moving figure. If one were to look with some level of scrutiny at the object, they might have noticed it was a very dusty weapon and appeared to be an old kitchen knife.

Suddenly, the figure drew to an unexpected halt, a shadow cast over their face, obscuring their facial reaction to the sudden arrival of a new being in the area. It stood directly in front of their path, hands shoved deep into the pockets of its light blue hoodie. One could easily feel the tenseness in the air. The pressure increased the longer it remained silent. It was unbroken for only a short period of time before the obstruction spoke casually.

"*heya. you've been busy, huh?"

There was a pause as the person being blocked to their destination merely stared straight ahead, a glint in their eye which was unsettling at best; sinister or downright chilling at worst. It might have shaken a person down to their bones even. Despite all this, the casual barrier to its plans was grinning; that same grin he always had plastered upon his face. It seemed to irritate the other one as a grimace flashed over its face immediately after their eyes locked.

"*so, i've got a question for ya. do you think even the worst person can change? if everyone can be a good person if they try?" there seemed to be some hopefulness to the voice now, as the grinning skeleton seemed to make a last ditch appeal toward whatever humanity might have still been lurking in the depths of the young person's body.

In response, there was a threatening step forward, met with the rising of the weapon it clung so closely to. What had in the past sent others running merely was met with a laugh from their opponent, however. With a shrug of his shoulders, Sans the Skeleton seemed to realize there was no going back at this point. Or, perhaps it was more accurate to say he already knew, as there was no surprise in the comedian's reaction. Quite the opposite, in fact: he seemed calm and collected.

"*alright, well, here's a better question. do you wanna have a bad time? 'cause if you take another step forward you are REALLY not going to like what happens next."

As if challenging the skeleton to do his absolute worst, the figure slid forward, this time with a wild grin on its face. Now illuminated completely, pieces of dust were visible coating the human's brown hair and blue and pink striped sweater. The blood lust at this point was visible and for a brief instant, a flash of red seemed to reflect itself inside the kid's eyes. At the end of the day, this monster was merely a child but their actions leading up until this point meant that they had lost their innocence quite a long time ago and everyone knew; everyone still breathing, at least.

Birds had begun to chirp outside of the window, their sweet music filtering through into the Judgement Hall.

"*welp. sorry, old lady. this is why i never make promises."

XXXXX

A long narrow hall stretched ahead. It was white on all sides at first, then grey and dark waves seemed to wash over it. A faint glimmer of twilight flickered through the barrier, however, which gave an uplifting feeling to the room. Two opponents faced each other, standing at a crossroads as emotions ran high, the end of a journey at hand.

The creature with its back to the barrier was slightly hunched forward, his coat wrapped in front of his relatively large form kept anyone from knowing what he had up his sleeve. The monster leaned forward, horns pointed toward the child in the room. A tiny crown, symbolizing his stature, rested upon his head. Their purple cape rustled as the massive frame beneath prepared for their next move.

"Human. It was nice to meet you. Goodbye."

Tensing, the young child stood there, waiting for what was to befall them next. Despite their eagerness, the brunette seemed to be worried about something and kept casting anxious looks around their location now and again.

Before any words could be uttered through the young person's lips, there was a ball of intense orange light launched from the side, striking the soft spoken King dead on and effortlessly knocking him to the ground.

Swift realization struck. It took a full minute for the kid's mind to process what had just happened. Spinning, eyes were already beginning to water up before they had full sight of her. Much like the King whom had stood before them previously, this being had similar features to that of a goat down to the white ears and horns. Her large eyes and the patient, kind stance she adopted constantly, however, were an immediate clue that despite the title, she was no real "monster".

"*What a miserable creature. Torturing such a poor, innocent youth... Do not be afraid, my child. It is I, TORIEL, your friend and guardian."

"*just lay down your weapon and, well, my job will be a lot easier."

The fight had been waging on for a long time. Sans had sweat pouring down from his cranium and was breathing in and out with some difficulty as he struggled to catch a breath of air. The human meanwhile, rubbed its back, as though something were troubling it there. A pulled muscle? Or something more? Perhaps they felt the sins of his crimes catching up to them there.

It was obvious who was beating whom at this point in time. So many repeats of the battle had taken place that now it was all a blur for both of them. No one knew just how many times they had reset and tried again to take the other out. Both were fighting for their own reasons and had their own determination pumping fiercely inside of them. Still, Sans was opening himself up at this moment and sparing the human, allowing one last glimmer of redemption.

There was almost no hesitation behind the move.

Fist clenched, the human went to strike with the trusty knife which had brought them this far already, signaling that all he cared about was FIGHTing. Chara's heart had long sense iced over which was ironic due to it being colored blue now.

"ASRIEL DREEMUR!"

Loud and clear as a bell, the voice rang out. A flash of blinding white light filled the space before fading back into pitch black. Darkness had filled the room soon after the surprise attack which had followed. No one had seen it coming, really. Least of all the human. Still, despite everything he had done and all the people he had tried to hurt to get to this point, there was something inside Frisk was shouting to reach out and SAVE Asriel. Everything suddenly shifted in their vision. There was a flash of white light that forced them to shut their eyes tightly. A moment later, they reopened their eyes to see their hand hovering directly above the words FIGHT.

XXXXX

It wasn't hard to imagine their astonishment at the sudden change, especially when the button they had seemingly pressed accidentally had been shattered. Pieces of it were broken and were chipping away, clanking onto the floor. Looking up, eyes meeting their supposed target, Frisk dropped his stick to the ground, missing the chance on purpose. He would never FIGHT, of course!

Especially when the monster he was fighting was his friend… Sans.

"*welp. it was worth a shot. guess you like doing things the hard way, huh?"

"Sans, wha-," Frisk started, the baffled expression intensifying with a slight hint of terror. Taking a step backward, several thoughts and questions were dancing around in the young person's mind. What was going on? Why was he suddenly in the midst of a battle with one of his best friends in the Underground? Was this… Perhaps a trick perpetrated once again by the mischievous flower? One last ditch effort to stop them from winning this time around?

With the strange and bizarre events which had befallen them thus far, it was honestly not out of the question to consider Sans hadn't been properly SAVEd yet. Perhaps the process needed to be done a second time? Feeling their heart grow heavier, the blue attack now in effect, Frisk prepared themselves for what would happen next. There was really no way to prepare for it, however. It was too much of an onslaught.

Attacks were flying at them every which way possible. Bones of various lengths and sizes. Leaping, rolling, dodging, they did everything to try to avoid one blow only for the entire attack to suddenly switch on them midway through. In the midst of jumping from one attack, they would find themselves grounded again only to have to leap again to avoid a different technique directed their way. Heart pounding from the intense movements, Frisk could not even fathom a light at the end of the tunnel this time. It was obvious that Sans was not holding back.

Lying on the floor for a moment, it took them a full minute to realize that the turn had finally passed. It felt as though they had been thrust into a hurricane. Bones had been flying at them every which way. Never before had they even seen such a powerful enemy that could give Flowey and Asriel such a run for their money. But what really was causing the immobilization of their entire body was not the exhaustion from the blows they had received, despite their health being in jeopardy. No, the shock of it all was almost too much.

"I can't… Fight you, Sans."

Without a second thought, their hand struck the Mercy button in a last ditch effort to SPARE his friend. Perhaps, whatever was causing the normally cheerful happy-go-lucky skeleton bro to behave this way would change. Frisk wanted their comedian back and badly.

"*sounds strange, but before all this, i was secretly hoping we could be friends. i always thought that the anomaly was doing this cause they were unhappy. and when they got what they wanted they would stop all this."

"S-san's… We are fri-,"

The response wasn't allowed to be finished. A strange skull creature appeared, opening its giant mouth before unleashing a blast that struck the child directly as they struggled to remove themselves from the ground and dodge. Somehow, miraculously, their health did not drain completely but it was probably only because they were clinging to intense hope right now and was fighting not to give in.

But, they weren't alone. They had friends! Recalling this, they reached a hand out, sliding it along the tiled floor for a moment and then lifting it into the air.

"Help!"

The blast that should have come next suddenly stopped, the blaster's grinning mouth closing shut with a weird clanking noise.

"Toriel!"

"*hey, what are you…"

"Papyrus!"

"*is this is some sort of joke… it ain't funny, kid."

"Undyne!"

"*knock it off."

"Alphys!"

But no one that Frisk called out came. Only Sans stood there in front, casting his gaze to the side. Despite his obvious distress, that same grin was still stretched across his skull. Something about what Frisk had said had struck a chord within him.

"*i don't get it. am i missing the punchline? you must have one sick sense of humor, pal." The pupils in their friend's eyes seemed to disappear into blackness.

"It's not a joke, Sans! If you want me to tell you a joke to make you stop… I will!"

"*…are you kidding me?"

"What does a skeleton tile their roof with?" Frisk continued quickly, remembering one of the last jokes they had learned.

"…"

"SHIN-gles."

Quiet filled the hallway. No laughs followed. Not even a chuckle. It was bizarre to say the least. It felt worse than when Papyrus and Sans had been Lost Souls attacking him. In fact, they would have rather seen that then their buddy acting perfectly normal outwardly but wanting him dead. Frisk hugged their shoulder where it had once smacked straight into the hard tile floor, ignoring other places that were screaming equally in pain. Hopes and Dreams had already run out and so had the rest of his inventory supply.

"Sans, please," they pleaded, hoping that somewhere deep inside of their friend they would be heard, allowing him to finally give MERCY to Sans and to end this needless fight. In one final attempt, Frisk added, "We can go get burgers at Grillby's with lots of ketchup and take a break from work…?"

"*so you're trying to mess with my head, huh? well, it ain't going to work. i know what you did. you killed everyone, pal, so don't start acting innocent now," Sans replied. There was a strange blue glow that began deep within his left eye, growing ever brighter.

"What? I never killed anyone! Everyone is fine, we were just with them a moment ago," was the protest that the skeleton received. "You said it yourself… I never gained any Level of Violence."

Something about those words seemed to resonate and for the first time, their gaze met fully and some of the tension lifted for just a fraction of a second. There was a sharp intake the skeleton took note of an important detail he had overlooked. The human did indeed appear to be telling the truth, for they had no LV in them that his eyes could see. That was impossible if they were indeed the same person he had just been fighting. After all, LV was gained by killing innocents and distancing yourself from the rest of the world.

XXXXX

"*you're not the same human I was just fighting, are you? huh, kiddo?"

A confounded expression on their face, Frisk's shoulders went up and down in one smooth motion. Everything seemed to be happening so fast that their mind was a blur. Then again, what was new? Each of the friends that they had met along the way had at one point or another attempted to kill him, right? Well, save for Papyrus. That kind and gentle soul couldn't hurt an ant, let alone go through with murder or even turning Frisk into the Royal Guard. But they had been locked in a dusty old shed more times than they could count.

Fortunately, it was only a few seconds later that a hand was outstretched. Frisk grabbed the boney palm with their own hand and allowed themselves to be pulled to their feet.

"*heh, sorry kiddo. appears there's been a bit of a… mix-up."

XXXXX

Gradually, eyes opened up before blinking several times, long lashes dusting off bits of tears that had collected somewhere in the corners. The tiny, almost fragile form that stood in the middle of the darkness was a stark contrast to the mammoth of a being that had been there a moment prior. An arm reached up to cover the face of the figure as more tears appeared there. The room had gone starkly quiet before a tiny voice spoke.

"*I'm so sorry." Finally, the tears all wiped away with the sleeve of their green and yellow striped sweater, they smiled in the general direction of the human in front of them, doe-like eyes almost sparkling. "I always was a crybaby, wasn't I, Chara?"

The being in front of them stared coldly at them for a moment before their weapon was drawn up and the distance between the two figures was quickly breached. Shocked and appalled, the little goat tripped over their own two feet and fell straight onto their rear end with a thumping sound.

"*Hey, what are you doing, Chara? I… I already know you aren't actually their old friend. I was just about to ask who you really were and-," stammered Asriel rapidly. Despite the immense power contained within them at that very moment, the little guy was paralyzed with unexplainable fear. Something had rapidly and inexplicably changed about the human and the expression they wore was creepy if not downright homicidal in appearance. "*I get it, you must be mad at me still. I understand…"

"What's going on here? Asriel, what did you do?"

"*Huh?"

"I thought I told you to stay out of my way!"

The tears sprung loose again, unable to be controlled now. Scrambling, the tiny youth picked themselves back up from the ground and began to run until he was very much out of sight.

"Where's Sans? Why did you interrupt us?" the bloodthirsty voice questioned loudly, shouting after the fleeing youth. "GET BACK HERE!"

"*heya, kiddo, looking for me?"

Turning around, the intense anger flickering away it was replaced by shock so deep that it actually caused their fingers to slip on their weapon, allowing it to clank to the ground uselessly. What should have not been possible was staring them straight in the face. T

The faces of those that they had cut down along their journey in cold blood were now standing beaming in their general direction.

First was a kind looking older goat monster who was batting their lashes and waiting eagerly as if patiently biding their time to chime into the conversation. Next was a very tall skeleton with a long narrow face and large teeth. They were sporting a white chest armor which looked more like a costume than anything, complete with a red scarf, gloves and boots. The chest armor, spandex underwear and gloves were all trimmed in gold. In the middle stood Sans himself, looking rather calm despite their earlier battle that had put such a tax on his stamina. To his left stood a monster fish woman with blue skin, an eye patch over her left eye. Red hair seemed to be perpetually flapping in some sort of invisible wind. And last, but not least, was someone they had never seen in their recent adventures through the Underground. A yellow lizard monster with nerdy black rimmed glasses and a white lab coat.

"*what's wrong, buddy?" asked the shorter skeleton nervously, casting his eyes to the side, seeming to be unnerved by the reaction the group had received. Instead of looking thrilled to reclaim his friends from the clutches of Asriel, they instead look terrified and suspicious of their arrival. "*ya look like you've seen a ghost but everyone else is still knocked out."

"*What's wrong, my child?" the sweet voice belonging to Toriel spoke.

But Toriel should have been dead. The first major monster that Chara had cut down on the way here, she had fallen in just one single hit.

"N-no," came the whispered response from the human's lips, falling onto their butt in surprise.

"WHAT IS WRONG, HUMAN? YOU SHOULD BE OVERJOYED BY THE ARRIVAL OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS! OR ARE YOU OVERCOME ONCE AGAIN BY YOUR FEELINGS FOR ME? OH NO!" gloated the tallest skeleton, placing a hand on top of his chest armor before laughing a hardy, "NYEH HEH HEH!"

Despite believing in the human, Papyrus was also supposed to be merely ash at this point. Dust in the wind. Chara could still picture their head talking to them from the ground, promising that they could "do a little better than that".

"No."

"*Hey, punk, you're looking a bit blue around the gills. Stop acting like such a wimp! How did you even get on the ground, huh? Nothing can take you out THAT EASILY!" the tough as nails fish monster practically shouted before giving a big grin and a thumbs up into their general direction.

Undyne had been a special case. Despite initially falling victim to their attack, she had clung onto life with a strange amount of determination that monsters usually didn't have. But eventually even Undyne the Undying had met her demise.

"Why…"

"*H-hey, there, I'm not sure w-what you d-did back there but, y-you definitely saved o-our skin from that evil flower! I-I'm sorry… I f-feel like it was all my fault…," stammered the self-conscious lizard, tapping her fingers together and casting a nervous gaze to the side, immediately acting like she was to blame for everything.

Alphys. Recalling the name after a second, Chara remembered having seen her before. Back before… Everything.

"How are you all…?"

Everyone glanced at each other, waiting for the words that would come next.

"Alive?"

"*oh, i get it. you want praise for saving us back there, huh, kiddo? well, you have our thanks. Looks like everything is coming up ROSY now."

"SANS!? WAS THAT A FLOWER PUN!?"

"*maybe."

"NYEH! THIS IS NO TIME FOR BAD JOKES? CAN'T YOU TELL THAT THE HUMAN IS DISTRESSED?! THIS IS CLEARLY… A TIME FOR PUZZLES! LUCKILY I HAVE PREPARED ONE FOR JUST SUCH AN OCCASION. HUMAN! BE PREPARED TO BE AMAZED BY THE LATEST ISSUE OF-!"

"*paps…"

"JUNIOR JUMBLE!"

"*not sure puzzles are appropriate right now either."

"Why are you all alive!?"

"IS THIS SOME SORT OF PHILOSOPHICAL PUZZLE? THOSE ARE… THE ONLY PUZZLES THAT I DO NOT ENJOY, ACTUALLY!" Papyrus declared, rather strongly, frowning slightly.

"*O-oh, perhaps they're having a, uh, e-existential crisis? I-I get those… A lot. I-I'm actually not sure how to stop actually. S-sometimesIjuststareforhoursatthesameplaceonthewallandIcan'tstopthinkingaboutwhyweexistatalland… O-oh, yeah, I usually just watch anime to make me feel better, haha!" Sweat was already pouring off of the smart monster's forehead.

"*NUGH! That stupid flower would have to do much better than that to actually kill us, if that what you're asking, punk! Also, Alphys, you never told me that?" she quizzed, giving a sideways look at her crush, wondering what else she didn't quite know about the intelligent Doctor.

"O-oh, it's n-no big deal," was the stammered response. "A-anyhow, it'll pass, Frisk, I'm sure of it!"

"My name. Isn't. Frisk," shouted the human, almost borderline enraged at this point as their hands balled into fists.

By this point, everyone in the room had fallen deathly quiet. The cheerful atmosphere that had been building up a moment prior had died and no one was quite sure what to make of the spectacle that they had just witnessed.

"IT'S CHARA!"

Toriel's gasp came immediately after, hands flying up to her face to cover her mouth. The name, of course, was one she was familiar with. But it was impossible. There was no way that this human was Chara. After all, the human with that name had died years ago quite suddenly from an illness that had struck them. Still, how would this child even know that name?

Undyne and Alphys exchanged looks with each other, each one just as baffled as the other. If this was some sort of joke, it wasn't funny to either of them and neither was laughing. Instead, the Captain of the Royal Guard was really regretting not having her armor with her here. But, of course, she had relaxed her guard… Because she trusted Frisk. Still, she found herself gripping a summoned spear tightly.

Papyrus seemed confused and his usual big beaming smile had faded, replaced with a worried frown. Perhaps the human was simply confused? After all, they had just suffered an immense ordeal, right?

Meanwhile, Sans was strangely silent. In fact, if not for the fact that he was standing upright, he might have looked to be asleep. Stance relaxed, head bent down, it was almost impossible to see what expression the comedian was currently wearing.

"And you are all in MY WAY!" with the sentence fading into a battle cry, the child suddenly rushed forward, snatching their weapon of choice up from the ground where it had fallen and readying it to plunge straight into Sans as he stood in place, unprotected.

"looks like you wanna have a bad time…"

XXXXX

"A mix-up?"

"*here, have a hot dog. it's on the house," he offered, pulling the food item out of a pocket of his hoodie. Had the circumstances been different, one might have questioned the storing choices that the skeleton made; however, there was really nothing to gain from calling him out on food safety practices right now.

Taking the morsel, Frisk raised a brow and instead questioned, "Normally you charge me for these or joke that you're selling them for too cheap… And not even a BONE appetite joke? Sans, are you feeling alright?" There was a pause before they added, "You aren't my Sans, are you? Did something mess up with the resets?" Now their question was in between bites of the hot dog, which was actually not a hot dog at all. In fact, the normal food item had been tweaked and was a water sausage with little itty bitty cat ears on it but still in a bun.

"*so you know about the resets, huh? well, i've always wanted to meet a time traveler but… not like this. hey, kid, let's talk at Grillby's. i know a shortcut." Taking hands again, this time Sans began to walk them both forward. Before they got too far, however, their surroundings blended from the yellow lit hallway into a semi-hazy orange lit area that was a clearly the interior of a bar. Many tables and booths were aligned inside the large square space. Typically, it seemed rather crammed despite this fact and it was troubling now to see each seat unoccupied. In fact, as the two walked across the wooden floor and slid onto their own individual bar stools, it became evident that they were the only two living creatures inside Grillby's. And that went for the owner, Grillby himself, as well.

"W-where is everyone?"

Slouching down over the counter, arms outstretched, Sans buried his head for a moment, turning his skull face away from the human. The stillness that followed unnerved Frisk who shuffled in their seat and turned this way and that for a moment as if expecting the doors to open behind them and the entire squad to come flooding in. But nothing happened. No one came.

"Sans… When you said that I killed everyone…," they started, swallowing hard. "Do you mean that the Frisk from this rest did all this?"

"*kiddo, that wasn't you that did this. the one that i was fighting was just pretending to be human," Sans started, turning his attention back toward Frisk for a moment. Nervous in his seat, the normally funny guy spun the opposite way, falling silent for a time before continuing. "*i promised to protect the next human that passed through the ruins and make sure that nothing happened to them. the lady i made that promise to, she and i used to tell each other jokes when i was on sentry duty for humans. but after the "human" left the ruins, she stopped answering me…"

"E-even Toriel?" Frisk questioned, immediate panic setting in before they whisked out their cell phone. Despite all of its fancy gadgets and additions that had been installed, they opted not to attempt to text, but immediately dialed the number that they had almost memorized by this point. The phone rang and rang and rang, but there was no answer. "She's not answering but it's okay, I know that she usually doesn't answer my calls, not since I left the ruins… I'm sure she's okay…?"

"*yeah… maybe she just went on vacation," Sans whispered, slowly shutting their eyes and leaning back in their seat with their hands shoved deep into their pockets. "*but the others, i saw. i was going to step in, but it was too late…"

"Others? So… Everyone else?"

"*alphys managed to evacuate a lot of the monsters to somewhere safe, but yeah… get-togethers are going to be a lot smaller now here in the Underground…"

"Wait, what about Papyrus and Undyne? Did they make it out?" was the rapid fire question from the little child.

The pupils in San's eyes seem to dim once again and a sinking feeling entered Frisk's heart, as the answer was wordlessly conveyed. Fingers flew across the number pad again, this time with even more vigor, knowing that Papyrus and Undyne should be together and that they would undoubtedly answer the phone. The number had been called so frequently during their journey that it was a wonder there was even any battery left.

Holding up the cell, the child waited as the phone rang. And rang. And rang.

And no one answered.

"*i guess you are friends with my bro too, in the other reset? no, it must be a different timeline entirely. must have been nice to see him so happy, giving you puzzles to solve all the way to Asgore's place…"

"Yeah…," Frisk answered numbly, the phone barely held in their grasp any longer. "W-we even went on a date before Papyrus friend-zoned me?"

*heh, what, really? you'll have to tell me about that sometime," Sans responded, actually perking up and giving what looked at first to be the first genuine smile that the human had seen since meeting this version of the normally happy-go-lucky skeleton.

After a moment, Sans turned to Frisk fully and asked, "i've had dreams where we all make it to the surface… past the barrier. you must be the human from those dreams where everything goes right, huh?"

"Yeah… But I guess that isn't going to happen here because of-,"

Shooting upward and stumbling off of the stool, nearly injuring themselves on the way, the human child's eyes widened dramatically. An audible gasp escaped their lips. Like an electric spark had made contact with them, they were suddenly alive with so much energy that didn't seem to know where to go.

"If I'm here than, they must be-!"

They both looked at each other. Frisk felt a sudden drop in temperature as the blood rushed to their feet. Heart pounding, both said at the exact same time, "IN THE OTHER TIMELINE!"

(GAH I just realized the breaks between transitions didn't show up the first time. Fixed that in this chapter. Sorry folks!)


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

( Lucus: Is the answer to your plea… A. Heck yes!? B. Heck yes?! C. Heck yes!? Or D. Heck yes!? But yeah, I'll continue this!

Silver: =( Yeah, I was like "NOOOO" when I saw the tumblr post. Thank you for the kind comments about the writing! Prepare for a weird ride toward the ending I envisioned!

Aura: You're absolutely right! But my take was that you technically "freed" everyone's souls when you used your SAVE. Either that, or Asriel could have used a last ditch move to help himself out when he saw that it was crazy Chara.

Guest: Calm… Anxiety? You might want to seek help for that! It doesn't seem healthy! Haha, but, no, I'm glad that the story evokes some emotion! But… That's every writer's hopes and dreams. It's about to get way worse… I'm afraid, in that department. Prepare your tissue boxes. D-did anyone catch that reference in there somewhere.

Kiryma: I LOVED the idea. I mean, it blew me away that they had this idea in the first place. And thank you! I know I changed a lot cause of my own head canon so I was still hoping it would have that same "feel".)

Before the knife could be brought down and the sharp blade could tear satisfactorily through fabric and bone, a boney hand was extended. Finger joints moved as a strange blue light began to emanate forth from one singular eye socket. The perpetually grinning skeleton stood in Chara's path once more but this time he seemed hesitant. What could have been a swift first attack with a series of Gaster Blasters followed up by the rest of his strongest move was instead a simple toss up of Chara as their heart turned blue in reaction.

Their eyes met and something seemed to unnerve the skeleton, for the doubt subsided and his pupils disappeared into darkness for an instant. A flick of the wrist later, despite tugging hands now on his shoulder and the sinful child was sent straight into the hard ground.

"*where… did you get all that LV, kiddo?" he questioned tentatively, as if not really wanting an answer at first, eyes sliding to the side as if avoiding direct eye contact now. "*is this some sort of joke, because if it is, I'm missing the punchline."

"*Sans! What are you-," protested the kind voice of Toriel, pitch rising as she watched with intense fear as her beloved child was picked up and tossed like a rag doll. "*But you promised-!"

"*you wouldn't happen to be… the real "monster" from all those nightmares, would you? be a pal and answer honestly."

Sweat seemed to be pouring off of San's forehead at this point. Not from exertion, but from terror.

"SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE HUMAN? I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU DID NOT GET YOUR CHANCE TO FIGHT SAID HUMAN WHILE WE ALL HAVE IN FACT DONE SO, BUT THIS MIGHT BE A TAD EXCESSIVE, BROTHER!" Arms were attempting to wrap themselves around the smaller skeleton now. Gloves lost their grip, however, and only managed to almost tug the blue hoodie that Sans wore.

"*Hey, knock it off, Sans! The punk is a wimp! They can't take that kind of abuse!"

"*S-sans, I-I'm sure you h-have an idea or s-something, but maybe this c-can be settled by talking it out?"

"Perhaps… We're mistaken about the child. Let's talk this out, first," another, deeper voice added.

"*That's quite enough!" was the loud yell that came next, Toriel's fur covered hand seizing San's wrist tightly just after he had sent the human flying one last time for his turn. "*I will not stand idly by and allow you to hurt such a poor, innocent young youth! How could you harm them after all they did to assist you? You are worse than Asgore, I am afraid! And that is stooping very low!"

There was a grumble of discontent from nearby, a large figure standing off to the side. Despite his huge size, the large form was bathed in darkness. He had pretty much gone unnoticed by everyone and now even Undyne cast a gaze over at him with her eyes wide.

Slumping down, seeming to be fully exhausted, Chara was at the brink of losing all of their health. It wouldn't take much at this point. Their weapon of choice was lying nearby, having been picked up and tossed alongside of them the entire time as if connected to their very being. Fingers stretched out toward the artifact. Sans saw this and looked back at the others as if awaiting some sign that they were noticing what was wrong here. However, the glares and looks of confusion, even from Asgore himself, told the skeleton playing hero that he was wrong.

"*don't tell me that none of you have those nightmares? i must be dreaming…," he added ironically, shrugging his shoulders as his hands extended from out of his pockets. Almost immediately, the shorter skeleton was seized from behind, long arms wrapping around his shoulders and holding on tight in a manner that pinned his arms in place. Eyes trailing after her movements, the comedian was unable to stop the goat mom from approaching the fallen child in his current position. "*tori, wait…"

"*My child, are you injured? It is alright now. I, Toriel, will attend to your injuries. But tell me, my child, where did you learn of such a name? Chara?" the kind older woman questioned, her eyebrows furrowing with apprehension. Despite this, she bent down onto one knee and then onto both knees and scooped up Chara tenderly. Uneasiness died away as the act of kindness was rewarded with an eager embrace from the human child.

"I-I'm sorry, Mom… I-I'm sorry," was the almost inaudible response from the brunette youth. It became evident that they had used the leverage, however, as a means of retrieving their weapon off of the ground. Blade now in hand, they twisted it in their grasp, a wild smirk widening as muscles tensed.

"*tori, watch your back!"

Wiggling in the tight grip placed upon him, Sans managed to snake his arm out of the grip and in one last ditch effort, use his powers once more to lift Chara up from the ground, interrupting the attempted assassination.

However, in an instant, Toriel had whipped around in her spot hunched over on the ground, her hand now extended as a bright ball of fire appeared just above her palm.

"*Unhand. My. Child!" she growled heatedly, her demeanor similar to a momma bear whose cub is in jeopardy. Before anyone could move a muscle, the ball of light had been sent flying in the direction of the skeleton, whose one white pupil and other glowing blue pupil traced the orb of fury. Even as Papyrus attempted to switch positions, the actions were too late. The magic struck him square in the chest. Immediately after, the human fell from their position in the air, freeing them. Somehow, miraculously, they landed on their feet rather than taking damage.

"NO!"

Even as now, the taller brother attempted to hold on as tightly as he could, Papyrus was unable to stop the inevitable. San's health dropped startling down to 0 after the blow struck him. Having the lowest health and the lowest defense in the entire Underground, in the past the comedian had relied solely on his ability to dodge, being rather nimble and able to move faster than should have been humanly possible. Normally it worked out fine for him. Sans rarely if ever engaged himself in fights normally. The lazy bones enjoyed chilling and hanging out in Grillby's. When he was on "human scouting duty" he tended to sleep almost the entire time.

But in situations like these… Well…

His entire body began to disintegrate, leaving behind nothing but dust that began to pour onto the ground before being caught up by a faint wind and swirling past everyone toward the Throne Room.

Slumping forward, knee caps slamming straight into the hard ground, Papyrus held out his hands in the same manner as he had before, as though he were still in the act of holding his dear brother. Only, there was nothing for him to hold any more.

"SANS? BROTHER?"

"*No-no, that wasn't what… Oh, my god, what have I done?" was the distressed response from the goat as her hands flew up to cover her face. It had clearly never been her intention to take another's life. In fact, her sole focus was in keeping everyone safe. In her overly protective moment of fury, however, she hadn't realized how little health her friend had. Slumping forward, using the ground as a brace to keep herself from simply having her face meet cold ground, regret seized up inside of her and Toriel could barely function.

"*O-oh my-," stammered Alphys, hands shooting up to cover her mouth, shock and horror evident in her eyes. Next to her, Undyne breached some of the distance and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, comforting the lizard for just the briefest of moments.

"*T-they were trying to stab T-toriel! S-sans was protecting her and… O-oh my," Alphys stammered, her words reaching the furry ears of the goat mom whose horror intensified.

"*NGAHH! YOU!? WHAT IN THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU, PUNK!?" Heels stomped as a rage fueled Undyne moved forward. A spear had already been summoned behind her, twirling in mid-air menacingly. Toriel meekly bowed her head after looking up at the Royal Guardsman, eyes sliding shut finally as the compassionate lady went to accept her fate.

However, the stomps of Undyne's boots faded as the fish woman passed beside her, a small gust of wind created by the energy emanating off of her merely rustling Toriel's hair. Confusion set in, she turned just in time to witness a webbed hand shoot out and snatch Frisk up by the collar of their sweater, hauling them off of their feet. Despite the horrifying fact that someone had just met their demise right in front of them, a monster that Toriel had confirmed before to be a friend of Frisk's, the human was grinning madly. A Cheshire type grin that was chilling to witness. Chilling to the bone. Toriel shook her head, feeling a tear roll down her cheek at the very thought of a pun having crossed her mind at a time like this.

"*I can't believe that I trusted you!? How could you break everyone's hearts like this? What in the heck is wrong with you!?" was the shout that followed, a fire lit in the depths of her eyes. Despite all the hours of cooking that they had done together, the phone calls… The human had turned on them all in the end. The betrayal that she felt was overwhelming and caused her normally steady hand to shake despite having no real issue holding up the human's puny weight. "*Sans always knows when something is up, and boy was he right. Either way, you aren't worth Sans! NOTHING is worth losing Sans! And now I have to sit here and watch his brother suffer? No… You're going to PAY for that, PUNK!"

Even as the words escaped the snarling lips, spittle spraying subtly onto the human's face, Chara's hands were shakenly reaching up to their own face.

"I, I don't care! I don't care!" was the screech that followed. It seemed inhuman and reflexively Undyne loosened her grip. Maniacal laughter followed: a sound like that from a haunting nightmare. Even as the human slumped forward onto the ground declaring loudly, "I'll kill you all again and again and destroy everything. We can erase it all!" tears had begun to form in their eyes, dripping steadfastly to the floor.

XXXXX

"*i can get us there, kiddo. i… i know a shortcut." For once in all the time that they had been friends, the human child realized that Sans actually sounded timid; as though he weren't entirely sure what to do next. It only served to make the innocent one worry more when Sans turned away from him and spoke again, "*i… shouldn't… no, i have to. if there is a chance that pap can be…"

It was as though Sans was talking to another being that was there, as he gestured toward an invisible space in the air before making up his mind finally.

"*i have to try. come on kid, let's go."

Hand in hand, the two of them suddenly vanished from the otherwise vacant bar, leaving behind no witnesses to the strange power that the skeleton possessed. Once again, their surroundings blended for a fraction of an instant, before they were replaced completely by the long, familiar stretch of hallway.

"*wow, well, we're still alive, pal, so things must've worked." There was a sigh of relief that escaped through his clenched teeth.

"W-wait, are we back in your timeline or mine?"

"*yours, hopefully, but my eye sockets can't make out anyone."

"That's because they would all be in the room with the barrier. Come on, Sans!"

They began to run this time, neither hesitating as they rushed through the door and into the King's room. Crossing over yellow flowers, trampling some petals, neither felt a tad bit guilty for their disturbance. However, as the two reached the doorway that led to the barrier, the lazy skeleton froze up, skidding to a halt.

"Sans! We have to stay determined! No hesitating!"

"*r-right, yeah…," came the response. "*sorry kid, guess for a moment my skull didn't feel screwed on right…" was the response the child received. Turning and frowning, Frisk gestured eagerly with his hands, propelling their friend into action. As they continued on their trek, a dark shadow crossed San's face, obscuring the change in emotion that flickered across his skull.

"*papyrus…," he whispered to himself, escaping the ear shot of the innocent child he was following. Like a flood gate had been unleashed, memories came rushing into his head. Something about the transition to this timeline had caused it to happen, had been the first thought that crossed his mind. He was no real genius when it came to stuff, preferring to distance himself from the research he had performed in the past now, but it soon became apparent that the only reason he was receiving these memories was because the Sans from this timeline had perished. But it wasn't just his own death that the comedian could recall. No, it was everything from this timeline, including the kind and compassionate little human that had spent time playing with Papyrus, solving his puzzles and sparing each and every monster that they had come across.

Willing himself forward despite the confusion dancing in his mind like some sort of tap dancing ballerina, the skeleton ran after his friend, picking up speed again once they came close enough to see the others standing off in the distance. It didn't take a rocket scientist to pick out his taller brother in the group, though he was hunched over, palms on the ground. Eyes were locked upon his brother; fixated.

"*papyrus!" Sans couldn't help himself from shouting. Heads turned. Each monster looked like they had just seen a friend struck by a bus and slowly went from that grief stricken dead look in their eyes, to wonder and bewilderment like a child discovering Santa was real after all. Most of all, Papyrus seemed in utter awe as his shorter brother skidded on the bottoms of his slippers and fell to his knees, hugging the puzzle-lover as tightly as he possibly could.

"SANS!? IS THIS FOR REALSIES!? WOWIE, YOU'RE ALIVE! NYEH- YOU, YOU SCARED ME HALF TO DEATH! IS THIS ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR SHENANIGANS?"

"*yeah, I'm for real, pap. i'm sorry i scared you, bro," Sans answered, allowing his eyes to slide shut as he just took in the moment. In his mind's eye, the short skeleton could see his brother through the hazy snow. It had been impossible at that time to see much of what was happening. However, as the child had advanced in their route and Papyrus' voice had mellowed, it had finally struck Sans deep within his chest that his brother didn't look right. The snow storm had subsided and there Papyrus was, beheaded. It took only a moment for his body to disintegrate and his heart to burst into a million tiny little pieces. Sans had replayed it time and time again, beating himself up for having not known any better.

"THAT IS ALRIGHT, I FORGIVE YOU SANS! BUT PLEASE… DO NOT SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN…," was the sincere response, Papyrus gripping his older brother tightly. Warm water splashed onto San's shoulder, signaling to him that the tall skeleton was openly crying in relief.

"*Wow, guess Sans is tougher than he looks! I always knew I liked you for some reason!" Undyne cried loudly, throwing her head back and laughing before giving a wild emotional grin, her method of releasing all the sadness and anger that had built up inside of her up until this revelation.

"*Oh, thank goodness! This is a good thing! I am happy to see this," Asgore added, clapping his hands and looking utterly relieved. Had she not been thrown on a yoyo of emotions, goat mom would have probably glared in his direction for acting so nonchalant when she knew he had really been terrified himself like everyone else had been.

"*Thank heavens indeed," Toriel instead added, relieved and holding back her own floodgate of tears. However, the Ex-Queen was much better at hiding her emotions, having mastered it for a number of years now.

Everyone converged on the brothers besides Undyne, who was lording over Chara, keeping an eye on them.

"*H-hey, g-glad you're okay, Sans…," the nervous scientist started, tapping her nails together as Papyrus and Sans helped each other off of the ground. "*B-but you didn't perhaps…?"

"*i had no choice, Alphys," Sans responded, face darkening for a fraction of a second. "*anyhow, guess it was just a brush with death." With that, the comedian removed his comb and pretended to use it across his skull, earning him a groan from Papyrus initially before a reluctant smile was given.

There is a type of blindfold that happens when you zero in on a particular object or person. This worked utterly to Frisk's advantage as the little child snuck past everyone. It was no wonder. After all, even Undyne had never been able to spot them in a small patch of tall grass. Heck, they even managed to slip right past Asgore themselves, using his massive frame and cape like a camouflage while peaking around in order to get a better view. Surely enough they finally spotted the person that they had been switched with. It was like looking into a mirror. Down to the brown hair cut in a short style just past their ears to the blue and pink striped sweater, the human that was kneeling down on the ground was the same as them. It was eerie, in fact, and sent a shiver down Frisk's spine.

Seeing themselves like that, looking completely crazy? It was unnerving. Frightening even. Worse yet, to think that there was some timeline where they had fallen off the wagon and into the rabbit hole of messed up was hard to fathom. Everything from the time when Frisk had made spaghetti and burned down Undyne's home to participating on the MTT Brand Cooking Show and even having the overly persistent Monster Kid buzzing in their ear about how great Undyne was… There was no way that Frisk would trade any of that for the world, let alone murder. So what had driven this human to this awful choice?

Still, if their adventures had taught them anything, it was that anyone and anything could be spared or saved. Maybe even… Someone as deranged as that timeline's Frisk.

But before the kind hearted human could march their way across the room and make themselves known to everyone, Chara was on the move. Straightening up, something seemed to change as their health jumped startlingly upward from something that they had just eaten.

"*Hey, move one more muscle and I'll make you eat a fist sandwich instead!" Undyne demanded, earning a slow step forward instead in response, a taunting smile spreading across the human's lips. Frisk almost couldn't believe their eyes. No, this wasn't them, was it? Sans had been right. "*Seriously, punk!? Alright, if you want to go, then I'll show you a real fight! No more holding back with you. Clearly you've grown past the little kid fights now, huh? Ngah!"

"*W-wait, Undyne, y-you aren't serious! They have a c-crazy amount of LV! Y-you don't stand a chance… A-and w-without your armor!" cried Alphys, rushing forward and attempting to grab at her girl from behind to pull her away from the impending battle.

"*Pssh, armor, smarmor! I don't need no stinking armor to take care of some trash! N-no, not you, Alphys! Real trash! I'm talking about this human that made us all believe in them only to pull this crud! Besides, I've got you guys behind me, right? I'll be fine with all of you chanting my name to victory!" came the overly dramatic response, confidence radiating off of the blue scaled monster as she grinned with all her pointy teeth showing practically.

"*I-it's suicide!"

"I can't lose! In fact, since you're such a wimp, I'll let you go first even," Unyne offered even as she turned Chara's heart green, giving them a shield in the process to protect from all of her spears. After all, the fish woman was always generous beyond compare.

"She's right, Undyne. You should have listened," taunted the cold, almost dead voice of the human as they twirled their weapon, eyes flashing with a hint of red color that was almost undetectable at first, but didn't go unnoticed by Frisk.

(Gah, short chapter, sorry! I didn't want to make you guys wait too long between them. This is the point of divergence too, where I start giving my own real ending to it so I figured it made the most sense to stop here.)


	3. Chapter 3

( Phoenix: Thanks but I can't take credit for that! All Scotch's idea concept wise but I think the Sans reading LV is still canon since he reads you in the Judgement Hall? Either way, I copied that from the comic. You should def read the original if you get the chance!

ScorpioInDisguise: Aren't you supposed to be in disguise or something? I can clearly see you're Scorpio! GOSH. But, thank you!

Silver: Golly, I'm not sure if Chara will or not… BUT AFTER ALL, IN THIS WORLD… IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED. YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT HEHEHEHEHE!

Lucus: Thanks so much! Pressure is on now!

Aura: Oh, sorry! I was mostly just trying to leave it on a cliffhanger. But yeah, I'll try to update with larger chapters.

Fair warning that I read a lot more Aftertale now that Swaptale ended… So, uh, yeah…)

Chapter 3

"*NGAHHH! TO THINK THAT I USED TO THINK YOU WERE COOL!"

The wind seemed to pick up in the dark room even more, swirling around everyone and fluttering Undyne's hair wildly. Despite the fact that she wore no armor, her stance as a member of the Royal Guard still stood. As such, she was prepared to lay her life down to protect the others in that room from this human. No, whatever this was that stood in front of her. "*I even made friends with you and you made me believe that all monsters could put their hopes and dreams into you. But I was wrong! I was a fool and you're nothing more than a liar and a deceiver! Hiding behind that goody-two-shoes schitick until we lowered our guard? PATHETIC!"

"*O-oh, she's m-monologuing again… S-she must mean business. A-ah… Undyne is so cool when she g-gets like this…," sighed the yellow skinned monster nervously, tugging at the collar of the dress she wore under her lab coat. "I-is it hot in here, or is it j-just me?"

"*schitick? like a fish schitick?" added the shorter skeleton, earning a glare from his brother than turned into a sideways glance.

"SANS, THAT PUN WAS TRULY TERRIBLE, BUT I'LL FORGIVE YOU FOR IT!" the long faced skeleton exclaimed. He tugged on his scarf and looked down at his brother with a soft smile. There were times that the two didn't exactly see eye socket to eye socket, but now that really seemed to be all behind them. Both were just overly happy to have one another back again and it showed in an extremely subtle way in their expressions.

"*heh, yeah, even i knew that one fell flat," responded the jokester with a shrug of his shoulders nonchalantly. The way his smile faltered however, showed that even he had struggled to come up with something that close to a joke.

"*Hahaha, hilarious," added Asgore, receiving a glare from Toriel that he grinned sheepishly at, stooping over further as if to hide himself and his shame. "I thought that you enjoyed puns such as those, Toriel? I am… Sorry?" The King lowered his head in submission when a glare full of murderous intent was directed his way.

"*Don't ever laugh at something that terrible again," she huffed angrily, arms crossed over her purple dress, turning her long nose away from his general direction, disgusted. This response earned a deep sigh from the noble monster, who closed his eyes and resigned himself to the fact that his wife was still upset with him and likely would be for a long time to come.

Eyebrows furrowing and scaled face scrunching up, Undyne gestured with her blue spear in hand as she added, "*I guess this time I'll just have to make sure you really do DIE. Then us monsters can finally cross the barrier! And this time I won't feel the least bit bad about it either. FUHUHUHUHUH!"

"Are you done talking yet?" came the bored response from Chara, who yawned and looked completely exhausted with this whole routine. They were still fiddling with the knife, cutting their own hand in the process and licking it away with their own tongue as though it were a natural response. The creepiness levels had certainly maxed out when it came to this human.

"*Fine then! En guarde!"

Despite the fact that the button was crumbling, the human struck the FIGHT button, a wild grin on their face. In a flash, they went in for the kill. With all their power behind them and determination, the move would surely strike home. Not only that… But the level of damage would be astronomical. Yet, Undyne stood proudly, a glare and scowl on her face, pulling her lips and exposing her sharp teeth that grinded together in anticipation. Before the blow could land, the scowl turned into a smile, her one good eye closing in acceptance.

 _SWISH!_

 _Drip… Drip…_

Small drops of crimson liquid pitter pattered onto the hard ground. If one were close enough to the scene, they might have also picked up the subtle smell of iron that perforated the space.

Gradually, the eye not covered by her patch traced downward. The wave of emotions that reflected across her face told an immediate story.

"*O-oh, my goodness!" gasped Alyphs, taking a few tentative steps forward, knees shaking.

"THE H-HUMAN… THEY-!" came an audibly high pitched yell from the elongated skeleton.

"Oh, my-!"

Audible gasps filled the room. Surely, no one had expected this result to the fight.

Well, save for one.

Sans stood silently, hands in his pockets. Pupils obscured in darkness, the skeleton seemed oddly calm amongst all the other shocked eye witnesses. It wasn't like there wasn't concern or compassion in him but he alone had been the only one with a heads up to what had been about to happen. Though even the comedian hadn't guessed it would go down exactly like this.

"How-?!" questioned Chara, red irises more visible now as their rage increased.

"Determination, I guess?" was the reply as a smile formed across Frisk's lips. There they stood, directly in front of their fish friend, having taken the blow in her stead. Bits of blood were still dripping consistently from the slash they had just received onto the floor. Their hands reached toward the wound, covering it up with the palms of their hands. Health point wise, they were lucky to be alive. By pure determination alone they were clutching at life with one measly point left.

"*Nggah, wait a minute!? There are two of you? THIS IS TWICE AS CONFUSING, WHAT THE HELL!" the unharmed fish monster screeched, flailing her spear around dangerously close to the human that was at the brink of death.

"WAIT! OF COURSE! THAT IS WHY THE HUMAN HAS BEEN ACTING SO STRANGELY. IT WAS NOT FRISK AT ALL, BUT A COPYCAT!" exclaimed Papyrus even as the skeleton spun around in place excitedly, arms raised above his head. Normally naïve and a bit clueless on some matters, at least he was talented at puzzling out the solution to the mystery this time.

"*wow, bro, you're so smart," added Sans with a larger grin.

"I KNOW! I AM VERY GREAT AT MYSTERY SOLVING. ALMOST AS GREAT AS I AM AT PUZZLE SOLVING! NYEH HEH HEH!"

"*Y-yeah, t-that's good! B-but don't you think it's more likely that they're from a different t…," started the sweating lizard before her spectacles pointed in the direction of the short skeleton. "Tim… Nevermind… A-anyway, I didn't think that the human could have suddenly b-become so bad. I m-mean, not after all the nice things they did to help me out and stuff. ImeanIwouldn'thaveevenstarteddatingUndynewithouttheirhelpand…"

"OH. MY. GOD. YOU TWO ARE FINALLY DATING!? SANS! YOU OWE ME FIVE BUCKS!"

"Will you all just shut up for once!" cried the knife wielding foe, appearing to be more fueled now by pure aggression than before, the remorse that had reflected in their face prior now a distant memory. Their emotions on a rollercoaster twisting up and down, looping one way and then another, one had to question the sanity of the individual. "This isn't how it was supposed to happen. But I'm going to kill all of you all over again!"

"I won't let you hurt my friends," came the reply from their new adversary. A weapon was raised and Frisk continued to stand, impeding the would-be-killer's progression. The threat was a lot less dramatic, however, when you were aware that the human had brought a stick to a knife fight.

"Look, I get your whole idea of trying to progress not killing. I'm sure you wanted to see what it was like, right? The idea of getting 'the true ending', or whatever," Chara started, gesturing vaguely before sliding their fingers along the front of their blade, careful to keep their skin away from the sharp edges, however, their demeanor shifting yet again to a calmer note. "But, just how good of "friends" are you if your own pals didn't even realize that I wasn't you? They were prepared to kill you a minute ago, in fact." With that, the wild grin reemerged just as their fingertip pressed against the top of the blade, pricking it and causing blood to begin to drip down from the wound. "They would have sooner killed you than try to figure everything out! Haven't you learned anything yet? In this world…"

"It's kill or be killed!" more laughter filtered out of their mouth, shrill and crazed. It sent a shiver down the innocent one's back.

"That's not true! They knew it wasn't me. I would never hurt anyone!" shouted Frisk in retorted, shaking their head and throwing their arm the side as if to throw the very notion to the ground. It could have been easy here to call into question the reason they had made their own choice at the beginning of their adventure, but after meeting all of their friends… That just wasn't possible. Frisk wouldn't trade all that happiness for the world.

Behind them, Undyne gave a sharp-toothed grin. "*Ngah, well, I've already tried to kill Frisk in the past but I've never won against them anyhow! Despite being so weak… ANYHOW!? I figured they snap out of it. Though I was pretty peeved when I thought Sans was really dead…"

"YES, I, FOR ONE, WAS PRETTY CONFIDENT THAT THE HUMAN HAD BEEN REPLACED!" came the overly dramatic flourish from the tall skeleton, rolling the 'R' on his last word.

"*Oh, gosh, yeah, I guess I should have expected that…," was the honest response from the unconfident ruler. Of course, one could overlook his sudden realization when you considered just how short of a time that he had actually been acquainted with the human child.

"*F-frisk would n-never hurt anyone, s-so I was p-pretty sure, I guess?" mumbled the scientist unconfidently.

"*I had faith that my child would come around! I did not want to see them injured… Which is why I took it out on you, Sans. I do apologize…" Fury hands clasped together in a gesture of regret.

While everyone was making declarations, Sans merely shrugged casually. "*i really don't have a bone to pick with you, Tori."

"Oh, yeah?" was the challenge issued to all of them from the extreme pessimist as their eyes danced around the room, looking at each of the monsters in turn. "None of you could tell the difference between us. In fact, if you put us in a line up you all would fail to figure out which one was your friend!"

Silence followed as a mounting tension rose. The temperature felt like it had risen as well. Perhaps the effect of being so close to Hotland? Though that explanation was fairly weak.

"We might look alike, but we're as different as night and day. If my friends asked us questions, they'd figure it out in no time," was the confident response, breaking through the strange atmosphere that had built up, shattering it like a plane of window glass being struck by an object at high velocity. While everyone else had seen the weakness in themselves, the tiny human still believed in them all. Not only that, but something told them that there was more to Chara than what met the eye. A wild hunch, probably. After all, there was no doubt that they were capable of slaying anyone without remorse.

Lifting one foot, allowing the sole of the shoe to then come down hard onto the ground, before taking yet another dramatic step forward, a sheen reflecting off of the silver, there was a moment of doubt or speculation that stopped the killer from simply finishing what they had started. Mere inches away from their would-be victim, they instead turned and shrugged their shoulders nonchalantly, despite their hands twitching with enthusiasm or nerves.

"Hmm, why don't we play a game then? See if you're right about your friends. It could be… Interesting," they commented with a smirk. "I've grown bored of the same ol', same ol'. I mean, I was even going to reset and not kill anyone maybe just to see what it was like until this happened!" Laughter floated out of their mouth that was like nails on a chalkboard.

"A game?"

"DOES IT INVOLVE PUZZLES?"

"Yeah, why not? We'll have everyone turn around, walk around some and then let them ask us questions. If you're so right about your friends then they should be able to figure out who's who. Of course, we could just get straight to me killing you all and resetting if you'd rather not play," Chara answered with a sickening sweetness to their voice. "But if you win, I'll promise to go back to my timeline." Though it was not visible to the majority, a hand inched behind their back as they crossed their fingers slyly. "Of course, Sans, you'll have to keep your eye sockets closed since you can see our LV."

"*heh, I'm game."

"We'll make the rules simple. Each of you monsters can ask a question per round. They'll be two rounds. By the end, you all have to agree who is Frisk and who is Chara to win. Now turn around!"

"I-I don't like the thought of t-this!? W-what if we turn around and they use that as a c-chance to stab Frisk!" Alphys stammered, clearly the voice of reason in this situation, to which she received a glare so red hot intense from Chara that it almost made the scientist back up from her position.

But she needn't worry, as the innocent one had already pulled out a thing of instant ramen noodles and was beginning to cook them, poking it gently with the stick in their hand to stir it, eyes almost squinted shut in concentration.

"OH, ISN'T THAT LIKE A KNOCK-OFF SPAGHETTI?" Papyrus commented, leaning in for a closer look at the pot that was getting closer to a boil now.

"*an impasta?" added his short skeleton bro.

"*NGGAH, you need to turn up the heat, Frisk, the freakin' thing is going to take forever to be finished! Yeah, stir it harder already, punk!?" Undyne added, fish lips flaring as she watched the slow and painful cooking process taking place. Leaning down, her inclination seemed to be to snatch the stick out of the little kid's hands to begin stirring, but perhaps the flashbacks to her house burning down stopped the fish woman from acting on the impulse.

"*guess Undyne really is hot under the collar when it comes to cooking."

"*Oh, my… Perhaps it would be best if you ate something a bit healthier, my child? Ramen is quite high in salt intake. I would recommend something with better nutrients."

"Why not just eat it raw?! It's better that way," Chara added, somehow joining in on the stupidity.

"There's only a minute left," was the response that all of them received from the overly patient kid.

"Patience is a virtue," added the calm King, nodding his head up and down gently earning him an equally boiling scowl from Toriel to the flames cooking the soup.

Finally the noodles were finished.

The liveliness died down and faded back into a serious atmosphere once the noodles had been consumed. Now at max health and no longer bleeding, cleaned up with some help from Toriel, everyone had to turn around and face away while the two humans were left to orient themselves. Frisk ended up standing to the left. Each stashed their weapons away. Chara turned, gesturing toward them eagerly. Confused, they shrugged their shoulders in response. Rolling their eyes, the annoyed human tugged their own striped sweater off and tossed it at them.

"Switch it. Now," was whispered to them.

"This still won't fool them, if that's what you're thinking," Frisk answered back before following through on the request and throwing their own sweater back at the killer, purposefully missing and having it land on the ground. The small cut in the fabric was the only difference now anyhow, after the blood had been cleaned up.

"SORRY ABOUT THIS BROTHER, BUT YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN SEE THEIR LV! OF COURSE, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL BE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHICH HUMAN IS WHICH VERY EASILY. AS I HAVE A KNACK FOR PROBLEM SOLVING, SO YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO BE BLINDFOLDED FOR LONG," reassured the spaghetti-lover as he worked to tie his own scarf into a temporary blindfold around his brother's head. Once satisfied, he turned the shorter skeleton toward him and held up several boney fingers. "NOW, HOW MANY FINGERS AM I HOLDING UP!?"

"*uh, i don't know. thirty?"

"SANS, BE SERIOUS FOR ONCE!"

"*heh, sorry bro. i can't see any fingers, so you must have done a good job blindfolding me," Sans reaffirmed, giving a thumbs up in the slightly wrong direction. "seriously though, thanks." For a moment the two of them stood there silently before a gloved hand came down and patted the jokester lovingly on the shoulder.

"Alright, you all can turn around."

All of the monsters present did as instructed. A wild grin momentarily flashed over the face of the fish monster before she turned and nudged her girlfriend lightly on the shoulder.

"*W-what is it Undyne?" came the nervous question in response, as the lizard rubbed her arm gently where she had been prodded.

"*I think I've already got the answer," was the whispered response, which was hard for someone of Undyne's personality to accomplish. She normally never spoke under her breath and that showed, as the hushed conversation was actually still rather loud.

"*O-oh, r-really? Well, I thought I did too until I considered that the humans could have s-switched shirts. S-so what was your theory?"

"*…"

"*U-undyne?"

"*Never mind, Alphys!"

"*Shall we each go around and ask a question of the children?" questioned the kind and slow voice of Toriel, who patiently looked to each of her newly found friends in turn, purposefully keeping her back pointed toward her ex-husband, however.

"*sure, Tori, why don't you go first."

"*Oh my… You want me to go first? I don't know…"

This earned a roll of the eyes from one of the humans, who stood there impatiently tapping their foot at first, before ceasing the gesture. Chara was clearly not enjoying this game as much as they had previously thought they would and the antics of the monsters were only serving to drive them slowly toward reconsidering their course of action. Meanwhile Frisk couldn't help but give a small smile and a thumbs up to their goat mom, encouraging them to go first.

"No more hand gestures," was the snide remark from Chara under their breath, causing Frisk to drop their arms back down to their sides. Unfortunately, their goat mom had also missed the gesture as well, having been looking around the room at the time.

"*Very well then, I shall go first. Now… What would be a good question to ask?" she mused, tapping a finger to her chin and casting her gaze skyward, batting her long eyelashes as she contemplated the answer. "*Ah, yes, I've got it. This question is for the both of you, of course… Which do you prefer; butterscotch or cinnamon for your pie?"

"UH, WAIT A MINUTE, MRS. ASGORE CLONE, DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT IS A GOOD QUESTION TO AS-" Papyrus began, clenching his teeth mostly closed and looking rather concerned. However, the thin skeleton paused and added, "GO ON," when he noticed that Toriel was looking at him rather heatedly. Toriel was not a mother to be trifled with, it became clear.

"I would have to say Butterscotch? Because it's sweet like cho-" Chara began before pausing and shaking their head. "Because it's sweet like you."

"*Oh, my, that's so kind of you to say," responded the goat mother, hand reaching up to her long mouth and a giggle escaping through her lips.

The sideways glance that followed from Chara indicated that they knew precisely what they were doing. The innocent one's eyes looked into duplicates of their own and found them devoid of actual compassion. Grimacing, Frisk knew that there was no backing out now. Instead, they were going to have to fight to prove that they were the actual person that all the monsters of the Underground knew and loved.

"*Yes, well, same question, other child," began the Queen, this time shooting a suspicious look in the direction of Frisk.

"…"

There was a long pause before they actually answered.

"I actually can't decide after having them together. They're both so good," was their final response, receiving a confused response from the crowd.

"*Very well. Alright then, Sans, I believe it is your turn now," directed the goat mom with a swift redirection, assuming some authority in the process.

"*uh, can't I go last?"

="*… Alright then, how about you, Papyrus?" Toriel responded, giving Sans some slack that she normally would not allow to happen.

"AH, YES, IT IS SMART OF YOU TO HAVE ME ASK THE NEXT QUESTION ANYHOW. AS YOU SEE, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SURELY GET TO THE BOTTOM OF WHICH HUMAN IS THE TRUE HUMAN! AS I HAVE CONCOCTED THE BEST QUESTION IN ORDER TO PINPOINT WHICH ONE IS FRISK!" announced the would-be Royal Guardsman rather confidently, taking a step forward and posing with a hand on his chest, scarf fluttering around him gently, picking up the tail end of some of Undyne's wind.

"*Oh, really? I can't wait to hear this! Papyrus, what are you going to ask, which type of spaghetti the human prefers or something? You nerd!" Undyne joked with a big grin.

"N-NO, DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!" was the response that the teasing earned, an awful amount of apprehensive shifting of eyes following.

"*Ngah! Awesome! I knew you had this since you love puzzles so much. So, then ask it already so we can nail the fake to the wall with a spear or something!?"

"VERY WELL! I SHALL KEEP YOU ALL IN SUSPENSE NO LONGER. MY QUESTION IS, HUMAN…"

The suspense was real.

Everyone was holding their breath.

It seemed like this strange game might finally be at its conclusion thanks to the fantastic, amazing Papyrus…

The tall skeleton could see it now. His ambition finally earning him the title of crime solver… Undyne and Asgore welcoming him with a warm reception into the Royal Guard! What a joyous, eventful day that would be! Sans would even maybe clean his room in celebration!

Then Papyrus snapped out of his little daydream and finally got to the point.

"ON OUR DATE TOGETHER, WHAT WAS MY SECRET THAT I KEPT HIDDEN!"

"*W-wait, y-you dated the human too?"

"*HUH!?"

"*U-uh… Uh, Undyne, i-it's not what it sounds l-like? Y-you know… It was a roleplay? F-for pretend…"

"*Oh, right…" responded the fish woman even as she finished snapping her second spear straight in half. "*I knew that."

"*great question, bro… but uh, hey, if one of them answers first and correctly, the other will know the answer, won't they?"

And so it was decided between everyone that the humans would have to take a slip of paper and write their answers down to submit it to Papyrus. The tall skeleton took the piece of paper from the first human, the one on the left and then skipped over to the opposite human, reaching each in turn before turning back to face all of the monsters.

"UH-SO… THEY BOTH ANSWERED SPAGHETTI?!"

Distressed fish noises followed.

"BUT! THE HUMAN ON THE LEFT DREW IT IN A HAT? THAT WAS WHERE I HID IT ON OUR DATE!"

"Right, under your baseball cap," was the response that Frisk gave with a little smile.

"RIGHT!"

"*Oh, let me see," came Undyne's reaction, snatching the piece of paper and scanning it with her one good eye. Finally she crumpled it in one fist and shook her head. "*Papyrus, this drawing could easily be a bowl too!"

"OH… I HADN'T THOUGHT OF THAT! CLEVER… VERY CLEVER! HOWEVER, I BELIEVE I AM ON TO YOU!" declared the "cook" with a sly smile in the direction of Frisk. "I AM SURE UNDYNE'S QUESTION WILL FURTHER REVEAL THE TRUTH!"

(And this is where it'd be awesome if Mettaton could show up but he's kinda soulless at the moment… Sorry for all of the jokes and sudden changes in tone. I love Aftertale so much that it's started influencing my ideas for this. If you haven't read that comic, go check it out!)


	4. End

(Holy heck, I am so sorry. I meant to finish this ages ago but the words kept getting harder to type as I neared the end. Thank you to everyone who followed this story. I hope that you enjoy this final chapter!)

Lips upturned, the blue skinned woman confidently strode up close to where the two humans stood side by side. Cocking her head to the right and then cracking her fingers , the noise causing both skeletons in the room to flinch in reaction, she loudly demanded to know, "Ngah, only the REAL Frisk could answer this one! What is my favorite thing to drink?!"

"SERIOUSLY, UNDYNE?" interjected Papyrus, eye sockets narrowing skeptically. "HOW IS THAT QUESTION BETTER THAN WHAT HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY ASKED?"

Frantic scribbling followed as the humans both rushed to answer the question. The true Frisk turned their piece of paper provided by Alphys over to reveal the word "hot" while their lookalike revealed their answers to be "water".

"*Fuhuhu, I knew this question would be the one to… Oh, wait… Technically I do like to drink water…hot water. And hot doesn't specify which drink," Undyne said, beginning to waver in confidence now. Worried glances followed from her girlfriend who was technically the next in line to ask a question.

"*Uh, um, well, Alphys will surely be able to ask the best question anyhow! She's clever and has watched the human the most anyhow!" Undyne added, grinning widely now, preemptively proud of her girlfriend's abilities. Meanwhile, sweat had begun to break out on the Professor's forehead and her lizard hands were shaking noticeably now.

"*Um, r-right, right. No p-pressure or anything, haha…," responded the intelligent woman as she tugged at the collar of her dress. "*Actually… To be truthful, I-I not sure I can do a-any better than you, Undyne." Finally it seemed that Alphys was doing a good job of being upfront and honest, rather than shy behind lies she thought someone wanted to hear.

"*I have confidence in you!"

"*A-alright. My question i-is, um… Which do you prefer? Kissy Kissy Mew Mew or Kiss Kiss Mew Mew 2? Um, actually… wait. Which did I recently review would be a better question?"

Scratching followed as pen was taken once more to paper. Under each of the hastily drawn spaghetti were scribbled the answers.

"*Oh, yeah, both answered the same. Um… Well, which did you prefer out of curiosity?"

Cards were overturned and then turned back, revealing that both humans had fiercely scratched out the 2 on their cards.

"*O-oh, yeah, me too, actually, heh…," she added with a chuckle. "*Maybe after this we can all watch it together?"

"*Oh yeah! Movie and a sleepover at Papyrus' house!" cried Undyne excitedly.

"YES! I WOULD BE The BEST PARTY HOST!"

There was a visible tick happening with Chara's eye now, their patience visibly wearing thin the longer the conversation progressed.

"*can we get takeout?"

"SANS, WHY WOULD WE GET TAKEOUT WHEN YOU CAN HAVE MY DELICIOUS COOKING?"

"*oh, yeah, you're right bro. don't know what i was thinking," responded the blindfolded skeleton with a shrug of his shoulders and a chuckle.

"*On second thought, let's have the sleepover at Alphys' lab or something," Undyne quickly decided, reminded of the reasons why she never actually stayed the night inside of the skeleton brothers home.

"THEN I SHALL COOK IN ALPHYS' KITCHEN!" declared the royal guard wannabe with an incredible amount of enthusiasm which was quite opposed to the expression on Alphys face. Clearly she was not to thrilled with the idea of someone invading her kitchen.

"*You know what goes good with spaghetti? More spaghetti! Fuhuhu!"

"*My, my. You all are so enthusiastic. But have we decided on the matter at hand? Which of these children is our lovable child that we have all come to love?" Tories calmly questioned, raising her voice just enough to quiet the room and pull everyone back on track.

The lighthearted atmosphere suddenly shifted, as everyone glanced at each other. No one was quite sure how to respond at first, or who should be the one to speak up first.

"*actually, let me ask something real quick, Tori," the jokes terms asked, raising his hand and facing the wrong way from where Tori was standing as he addressed her.

A nod followed as the goat mom agreed, taking a step back to allow the questioning of the humans to resume.

"*okay pal. so, if you really were my buddy and everything, you would know the answer to this one. which condiment is my favorite: mustard or mayonnaise? This one mayo be a bit tougher than it looks," the goof joked lightly, continuing to keep the atmosphere light. Meanwhile, red boots tapped impatiently in a rythmatic manner as the tall skeleton grew ever more steamy.

Pieces of paper were once again overturned and rustling followed before the two revealed their very cluttered pages that at one point had been pure white. Graphite scribbles, cross outs and even goofy drawings could not distract from the answers for long, however.

"*okay, i can't see anything so would someone be a pal lend me their eye sockets?"

"*Uh, one answered mayo and the other on the left wasn't even paying attention," snarled Undyne, fish lips pulling back, hands on her hips as she leaned forward. Her thick brow was furrowed in semi-annoyance.

"*oh? what did they write?"

"Ketchup?"

"*ah, right. yeah, that definitely wasn't one of the options," Sans agree with a turn of his head and a grin that almost seemed to be larger than normal (if that was even possible).

"OH, KETCHUP? SANS DRINKS THAT NASTY FAKE SPAGHETTI SAUCE STRAIGHT FROM THE BOTTLE!"

"*T-that doesn't seem healthy…," added Alphys with a wry smile to her girlfriend.

"*Very well, I believe we have all had a chance to question the child now. Surely by this point we can…," started Toriel, dragging the room back into order just by the authoritative tone she used. There was a dejected grumble, however, from nearby that cut her off and served to earn the individual a side glare.

"*Um," came an unconfident deep rumble, that seemed to be mismatched with the individuals large stature. "*But, Tori, I have yet to ask either human a question…" Asgore took a chance and gave his ex a hopeful smile. It was banished immediately with a more intense, firey scowl.

"*Nevermind."

"*Right, as I was saying before. Perhaps now we should compare notes and decide?" she propositioned to the group.

"*the one on the left is the right one. i know, confusing," Sans informed her with some certainty. In fact, he never hesitated. His taller counterpart nodded his narrow skull.

"I AM INCLINED TO AGREE WITH MY BROTHER. HAT OR NO, THE HUMAN ON THE LEFT PUT MORE CARE INTO REPRESENTING SPAGHETTI! NYEH HEH HEH!"

Flabbergasted by the reactions, Toriel eyelashes fluttered before she gave a small smile and turned her head to give Undyne and Alphys her full attention now. Hands clutched together in front of her purple dress, the kind mother said, "*And have you two decided as well? Remember, snails are slow but they always reach a point with time. You don't have to rush to-."

"*Alphys and I are pretty sure we figured it out. At the start even! Kinda… Well, no one can pretend to be our friend and get away with it. Right?!"

"*I-I w-was not as sure as U-Undyne, b… but I am now!" came the unsure stutter. "K-kinda…"

"*Why don't you tell 'em?"

"*Huh!? Me!? Uh, um, o-okay, uh… Well, you see," came the frantic response. "Is it hot in here or is it just Undyne!? Um, what, no, I didn't say that!" Hands waved in front of her face rapidly. "*We also agree that Frisk is probably the one on the left!"

"*Hm, I have to agree that I concur with your assessments. Also, snails are better at being eaten…"

Somewhere, a ghost cried.

"*If Toriel is sure that the human we seek is the one on the left, than I agree!" added Asgore enthusiastically, sliding closer to where she stood, only serving to cause the Queen to walk further away to put the distance (plus some) back between the two.

Throughout the entire conversation, Chara's had progressed from calm and collect, watching events unfold confidently for the majority of the time to a burning rage. Hands clenched into fists, a slight twitch caused their eyebrow to flick up and down.

Cautiously, Frisk eyed their lookalike, body stiff and rigid now; preparing to move quickly to intercept any attacks if need be. Of course, it had been painful enough to be cut open with the psychos knife the last time and Frisk was very much out of instant noddles now.

"WHAT?!" exploded forth from their lips with such venom that snakes would be jealous. "You're joking, right? There's no way you could figure that out without cheating from those questions! And if you cheated, then that nullifies my promise!"

"*We didn't cheat!" protested Undyne, brandishing her spear once more with a confident grin.

"*N-no, we just know our friend," responded the scientist with a sweet and warm smile tossed toward her friend.

"I don't believe you~!" came the overly sickening fake sweet answer.

Rules of the game now flung out the window, Sans ripped off the blindfold.

"*i guess you could say you just don't see it, huh?" The joke was delivered intensely as thin finger bones flicked upward, a blue flame beginning to emerge in one singular eye socket. "*but no one can fool us, doppelganger or not. there ain't anyone like our Frisk."

Just before events could escalate any further, a soft voice with an almost melodious tone spoke. Despite the timid nature of the owner, immediately all attention was diverted to the source.

"*Chara. Please stop this," they requested, hands wringing nervously. Their large eyes focused upon their old friend, pleading toward whatever semblance of humanity or love for monsters that still remained within the murderous youth to find its way to the surface.

Everyone besides the two humans had an extraordinarily large reaction to the appearance of the new monster to the group. Not because of them confronting Chara persay (though that played a small part), but rather because of who this monster was. A child, but not just any monster child. This one's name was Asriel. Simon of both Toriel and Asgore. Presumably dead for many, many years.

"*Hi…, uh, mom… dad… Everyone," he greeted, tears welling up in his large, doe-like eyes upon seeing the others. Despite all the emotions flaring in the room, this goat was on a mission to appeal to his old friend and was not about to be distracted from it.

"*My child! How is this possible? It's a miracle!" Exclaimed his mother, overjoyed. She restrained herself from rushing across the room, however, only because her son rose a hand to signal for her to stay put, eyeing Chara at the same time. This human would not hold back if given the opportunity to strike whilst someone was at their most vulnerable, after all.

"*My son!" gasped Asgore, a tear forming in one eye.

"What? Are you going to make me stop? Funny!" was the response from the blood lusting child. The chilling smile that they gave Asriel caused the little goat to shiver.

"*Please don't make that silly face anymore, Chara. It's scary," their friend replied softly at first before raising their voice a tad. "I can feel everyone's hearts beating as one. I can not only break the barrier, but fix this mistake and send you back to where you belong. With everyone's power, with everyone's determination."

"But I'm having so much fun. I'm bored with that old timeline. This is something new!"

"Is that why you've been killing? To pass the time because you're bored?" responded Frisk, gritting their teeth together, hands balling into fists. " You passed up making unbelievably wonderful friends just because you were trying to pass the time!?"

"I've done it before. Once or twice. Befriended them all. Spent TIME with them. They're all unbelievably predictable," Chara sneered. "It's more fun to see what will happen when you kill. Because in this world it's kill or be killed, right?"

"*No! I was wrong… I didn't know what I was saying when I said that," Asriel protested.

"If you truly did become friends with them, you would have remembered enough to win the game. Clearly you missed something important here," the human declared, eyes practically slots as they crossed their arms and stared down at their opposite, judging them. As they spoke, everyone drew closer , backing up their beloved child in silent support.

"*I'll send them back now. Then it's up to them if they want to take your words to heart, Frisk." As Asriel spoke, his arms stretched out as their eyes closed. With some incredible power, they began to rise from the ground as all of the hearts from each and every monster began to emerge from inside of him, dancing around before launching forward, dazzling with light so bright that Frisk had no choice but to close their eyes and shield their face from the display.

* * *

It was just Frisk and Asriel alone standing in the dark, empty space.

"*Chara scared me at first, Frisk, but you showed me that I shouldn't have been afraid to stand up to them. Thank you for that. Now, I have to go. Without the power of everyone's souls, I can't keep maintaining this form. In a little while, I'll turn back into a flower. I'll stop being "myself". I'll stop being able to feel love again. So… Frisk, it's best if you just forget about me, okay?"

Stepping forward, the humans arms reached out and enveloped the tiny goat, pulling them into a tight embrace that was eventually reciprocated. Eventually the two separated and Asriel told them to take care of their mom and dad before walking forward, eventually fading from sight.

* * *

"Frisk, this is all just a bad dream…! Please, wake up….!"

Slowly, Frisk's eyes opened and took in the world, each of their friends leaning in close to see if they were alright. Asriel was no longer there and neither was Chara, for that matter and it appeared that the barrier had finally been broken. Pushing up from off the cold, hard ground, the human had a smile on their face, despite the dried tear stains that marked their skin.

"*Oh! You are awake! Thank goodness!"

"W-we were so worried! It felt like you were out forever!"

"Yeah! Any longer and I would have freaked out! Tell us next time you decide to take a nap, okay!?"

"*yeah, you made Papyrus cry like a baby!"

"WHAT! I DIDN'T CRY! I DON'T CRY! I JUST CAUGHT SOMETHING IN MY EYE..."

"*what did you catch?"

"TEARS!"

"*Now, now, the important thing is Frisk is alright. Here Frisk, drink some tea."

"*How about we give them space first? They must be very exhausted. Though, from what... I am not certain."

(I hope you enjoyed the ending! It didn't turn out as grand as I wanted it to be. I left it ambiguous on purpose, as it is meant to tie straight into the true pacifist ending but it is ultimately up to you to decide the rest such as if Chara learned their lesson and changed anything, etc.)


End file.
